CHAPTER X 

 EARNINGS AND THE LAY 



THE method of wage payment in the whaling industry 

 was a singular one. The whaleman was not paid by 

 the day, week, or month, nor was he allowed a cer- 

 tain sum for every barrel of oil or for every pound 

 of bone captured. Instead, his earnings consisted of a specified 

 fractional share, known as a lay, of the total net proceeds of a 

 voyage. This system of lays, which probably originated in the 

 Dutch Greenland fishery during the early seventeenth century, 

 was employed to the virtual exclusion of other types of re- 

 muneration j and throughout the middle decades of the nine- 

 teenth century, the golden era of American whaling, the as- 

 signed fraction ranged from Vs or Mo in the case of a few 

 favored captains to /^so for a young and inexperienced cabin- 

 boy. Between these two extremes there was at any given time 

 an approximation toward a going rate for each of the different 

 ranks on board a whaler. The captains, mates, boatsteerers, 

 and coopers received "short lays" ranging from Vs to /4oo 

 of the net proceeds j the able and ordinary seamen, stewards, 

 cooks, and blacksmiths were entitled to shares which varied 

 from /4oo to M.6oj the green hands and boys had to be con- 

 tent with "long lays" which fluctuated from Meo to /4ooj 

 and instances of fractions as small as /45o, or even %50, were 

 not unknown.^ 



Within each rank, too, the intense individualism of the wage 

 bargain brought about variations which were traceable to such 



^ These figures were secured through an analysis of hundreds of individual 

 accounts found in the large collection of original manuscript account-books now 

 in the New Bedford Public Library. Unless otherwise stated, all figures given 

 throughout this chapter, together with all material relating to specific vessels, 

 have been obtained from the same sources. 



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